The present invention relates to rear view mirrors for passenger vehicles and small trucks.
It is well known in the art that the standard, factory supplied rear view mirrors in passenger vehicles, such as cars and small trucks, suffer from a particularly dangerous blind spot, as defined and used herein, in the United States and right hand road driving nations, in the solid angle from about the top to bottom of the right hand rear and passenger windows and extending from the back edge of the right hand passenger window to about a vertical line at about one half to about one third of the length of the right hand front passenger window, that line defined by the edge of the peripheral vision of the driver as the driver looks forward or glances sideways momentarily without significantly turning of the driver's head. The standard rear view mirror is adapted to view only out the back window. The standard exterior right rear view mirror does not, without an image distorting addition, permit the driver to view the blind spot just defined. The view distorting additions are inconvenient and deceptively distort the actual distances and relationships of objects in the blind spot. Most drivers do not rely regularly on the view in such view distorting additions or train themselves with careful inspection how to use such additions.
The prior art shows some attempts to extend the effectiveness of the inside rear view mirror with extensions. These extensions are generally of two distinct types. A first type is easily attachable to an existing interior rearview mirror. A second type requires major structural changes in the primary rearview mirror and necessitates removal and replacement of the factory supplied rearview mirror. The prior art extension devices suffer from a primary defect in present day passenger vehicles. It is well known that the general width of passenger vehicles is shrinking substantially to reduce costs. The prior art devices appear to have intended their greatest benefit in the wider, less crowded interiors of the wider passenger compartments of the vehicles of the 1980's. The present day vehicles, as are experience by many, are relatively narrow and have in the vertical space between the front dash panel and the rear seat either a bench seat or two bucket seats with relatively large headrests. The prior art has not adequately dealt with the reduced size of the passenger compartment and the increased size of the larger headrests in addressing the problem of providing an extension for interior rearview mirrors.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,748,395 describes a dual rearview mirror system with a secondary rearview mirror separately adjustable with respect to a primary rearview mirror and stowable within a housing to which the primary mirror is mounted. The secondary mirror is positioned for viewing a separate field of vision by a deployment mechanism, such as a push-push latching arrangement, which allows the secondary mirror to descend from its stowed position by pushing on an exposed surface while permitting stowage by pushing on that same surface to force the secondary mirror into a cavity within the housing. In the stowed position, the secondary mirror is hidden from sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,756 describes an adapter for mounting on the interior mirror assembly of a motor vehicle including two mirror segments hinged to each other and engaged at the free ends to the assembly. A cam adjacent the hinge can then be used to set the relative angular alignment between the segments.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,239 describes an exterior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle including an extendable mirror for improved rearward viewing. Several embodiments of the rearview mirror assembly each comprise a mirror housing, a mirror disposed in the mirror housing, and some structure to allow extension of the mirror between an inboard position and an outboard position. In one embodiment, the mirror assembly includes structure to allow rotation of the mirror between inboard and outboard positions. The mirror may comprise a post disposed in a mirror shell and extending along a longitudinal horizontal axis which extends through a plane defined by the mirror, offset from a central vertical axis of the mirror. In another embodiment, the means for rotating the mirror comprises a pivot part having a shaft disposed in an aperture in the mirror shell, which is disposed along the longitudinal horizontal axis. In yet another embodiment, the means for extending the mirror from an inboard position to an outboard position comprises a groove in the mirror housing, in which a mirror frame is slidably disposed. The frame may be slid, relative to the mirror housing, from an inboard position to an outboard position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,283 describes an adjustable rear view mirror extension apparatus that attaches to a standard existing rear view mirror found in most automobiles and other motor vehicles. The apparatus has a mirror, a mirror frame to secure the mirror, a plurality of lateral supports to position the mirror on the frame, and a flexible mirror retainer to releasingly retain the mirror in the mirror frame. There is a mirror frame support that allows the mirror to rotate on a vertical axis and a rotating device to allow the mirror to rotate on a horizontal axis. The rotating device has a housing comprising two sections. The two sections are adjustably connected to adjust the tension of the insert spring which controls the ease of movement of the mirror around its horizontal axis. The rotating device has a first and second surface with a plurality of radial bosses and grooves, respectively, included are an insert, spring and insert gripping device to restrict rotation. There is a bending device such as a flexible metal tubing to selectively position the mirror. The dual pivot device assists the user to move the mirror out of the way of the sun visor of a vehicle. The dual pivot device, also, allows the bending device and therefore the mirror to be adjusted on two more vertical axes. There is an attachment device which has an attachment frame and a plurality of fasteners to attach the apparatus to an existing mirror in the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,982 describes an extendible mirror bracket housing fastened onto the rear view mirror in the interior of a motor vehicle. The bracket housing slidably carries a bracket within an elongated channel formed in the housing. An extension mirror is pivotably fastened by a hinge to the bracket and may be extracted from the channel. Stop members preclude extraction of the bracket member from the channel. An additional extension mirror may be provided at the rear of the first mentioned extension mirror.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,819 describes a centrally placeable multi-angularly manipulatable combination automotive rear view mirror having a plurality of integral flat optically non-distorting reflective faces inter-connected by moveable but firm connecting means; each respective face capable of being positioned optimally by the driver to provide him with a much greater than ordinary scope of vision from both the rear-left side and the rear-right side including the direct rear view of the traffic environment, thus solving the risk factors such as the so-called right-sided rear blind-spot and also diminishing the frequent head turning and common visual disruption to the driver relevant to his important frontal attention during driving. Each corresponding integral face is provided with respective arrow indicia both for instructional purposes to the driver on the proper directional tilt required for each said integral face and also to effectively achieve the functional capability of constantly reminding the driver regarding the proper directional right or left rear view conditions relative to the correspondingly tilted mirror face he is watching.